On Thursday, Opera Software released version 12.00 of its web browser. The new version, a 23.3 megabyte download, boasts the following fixes and changes:

New Features:
– Opera now runs plug-ins as a separate process, allowing for more control when a plug-in misbehaves. This feature will enhance security and stability.

– The 64-bit version of Opera will offer performance improvements for some functions and allow Opera more freedom in allocating memory.

– New, lightweight themes make it easier to customize the browser. Install or change themes at the click of a button, without restarting the browser.

Numerous improvements to the address bar have been made:
– Improved address field and address bar drop-down suggestions.

– Smart URL shortening in the address field drop-down.

– The page title and the page excerpt will be used for full page search results
URL and page content columns in the address field drop-down have been combined
Hardware acceleration allows Opera to offload graphics rendering from the processor (CPU) to the graphics card (GPU), making graphics intensive operations such as animations faster.

– Extensions will now be able to interact with tabs, create tab groups, and manage windows.

– Opera Unite and Opera Widgets will be off by default in Opera 12.00, and will eventually be phased out of the Opera browser in the future. Voice support will be removed as of Opera 12.00, as the voice-detection library is no longer supported by the third-party vendor.

– Opera 12.00 will include changes in the Opera Presto 2.10 engine up to core-integration-point 289.

– Initial support for real-time communication has been added. Allowing the source of HTML5 to be set to the user’s webcam.

– Drag and drop enables webpages to have elements that the user can drag from one page to another, or from their desktop to the webpage.

– Support for animations and transitions has been updated and expanded.

– Added support for the Do Not Track (DNT) HTTP header.

– An innovative new set of CSS constructs that allow webpages to be split up into paged media, revolutionizing the Web reading experience.

– CORS enables more secure and flexible communications between websites.

Over the weekend, software giant Google released Picasa 3.9.9.637, the latest version of its photo organization program for the Mac. Once installed, Picasa imports (without moving or copying) photos from the iPhoto library as well as other folders and external hard drives on your Mac. The program also includes assorted editing tools for straightening, text generation, red eye removal, collage creation and Photoshop-like effects and adjustments. The new version, a 33.1 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:

– Fixed various crashes.

Picasa 3.9.9.637 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday, I was flying across the country and the plane lacked Wi-Fi. During the flight, “The Vow” with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams happened to be the in-flight movie, should you choose to plug in headphones and listen to it. During this time, I desperately wanted there to be a director’s cut where the characters are slathered in salmon juice and attacked by irate grizzly bears in every scene…

Google Chrome, Google’s new web browser, just reached version 19.0.1084.52 for the Mac. The new version, a 38.6 megabyte download, offers the following changes:

– [117409] High CVE-2011-3103: Crashes in v8 garbage collection. Credit to the Chromium development community (Brett Wilson).

– [126337] [126343] [126378] [127349] [127819] [127868] High CVE-2011-3110: Out of bounds writes in PDF. Credit to Mateusz Jurczyk of the Google Security Team, with contributions by Gynvael Coldwind of the Google Security Team.

On Wednesday, software company Delicious Monster released version 2.7.8 of the shareware favorite, Delicious Library. Delicious Monster allows Macs with webcams to scan the bar codes of any book, movie, music CD or video game, then creates an archive based on background information from the Internet. Additional features help keep the library organized and reseller’s tools allow for items to be quickly posted for sale online.

The new version, a 16.6 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes: